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Yes, it is one of those lovely days where my mind feels like rosijfgksjdfas. Thoughts racing and spinning in each and every direction.

A drive towards Chicago with Mr. Wallis in the CD player spurred my onslaught of thinking. Some one-liners that hit home…

"The answer to bad theology isn’t secularism, it is good theology."

Nice. And the second…

"What we should be asking ourselves is if we are on God’s side, not if God is on ours."

Mmmmm, so true. I like.

So much is happening right now. I am on my last month of commuting, hallelujah – 26 trips down and 4 remaining, counting this week. Yipes. I so cannot wait to ground myself in one place for awhile. The work that is left to be done for school is mounting and mounting as the days left grow shorter…always a pleasant feeling. I feel like at some point I am going to look back on the past two years of life and just drop my jaw, shocked at all that was packed in to an extremely small amount of time. One friend told me I was truly practicing the “here and now” experience by just doing what I’m doing and not getting caught up in the spinning cycle of it all. Possibly so, or perhaps my neuroticism has finally gotten the best of me.

I feel that my eyes have been opened even wider to taking in the contrast between my Madison and Chicago cultures as this time draws to an end. I am more alert to my experiences and environments in all of the different places I encounter on a weekly basis. I look around me on the train and digest a small yet strange little microcosm of the city’s diversity. I workout at the gym where I teach and am baffled by how accustomed I have become to the lifestyles of the “Lincoln Park Trixies” I have worked with for the past couple of years. The way of life is now familiar and yet unchangeably absurd. Last weekend I walked down the Magnificent Mile and grew increasingly annoyed as I noted that the Mag Mile is to Chicago what the Mall of America is to the Twin Cities – you don’t bother going there unless you are a tourist. Blech. I am amazed by the breadth of activity, life and stories that I feel all caught up within. Madison is just like home should be, but I am forever grateful for my short-lived experience as a “city girl.”

So that’s that.

A final and somber note, last night Paul and I went to a prayer vigil for the Virginia Tech shooting that really brought me into reality. How horrific. I feel completely vulnerable whenever we are so blatantly reminded of the tangible pain and brokenness in the world. It is so much easier for me to focus on all the joy that exists, but the truth of the pain, fear and anger in the world cannot be dismissed, even amidst the comfortable routine of our daily lives. Everyone touched by this directly will need some serious care and healing…may they find the strength needed to confront the pain.